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Friday, April 15, 2005

Haaretz has an article about the Slifkin Affair (here and in Hebrew here).

Let me be absolutely clear that I did not say the following quote attributed to me:

"Compared to rabbis in Israel, who are simply lacking in knowledge, these ultra-Orthodox Jews have knowledge of the sciences," he says. "The [Israeli] rabbis are being self-defensive. Most of them have not read the books at all; they don't know English." Among educated religious and ultra-Orthodox people in the United States, Student says, the generally accepted scientific theories are standard and no one questions them.

I also made it clear that The Science of Torah sold out before the ban became public.

UPDATE: Further clarification: I did not say that the rabbis in Israel are lacking in knowledge, nor did I say that the Israeli rabbis are being self-defensive or that R. Slifkin's views are generally accepted among ultra-Orthodox Jews in the United States and that no one questions them. Evidently, there was a misunderstanding.